


even robots need blankets

by harperkyle



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Androids, Chaptered, Connor Deserves Happiness, Connor Murphy & Zoe Murphy Bonding, Gen, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Non-Canon Relationship, Not Canon Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, So not canon, Suicidal Ideation, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, There's A Tag For That, Wow, basic DEH stuff i mean we've all seen the musical, definitely more tags to be added, eventually
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-11 10:26:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15970424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harperkyle/pseuds/harperkyle
Summary: Connor moved towards it slowly - whatever it was, it was buried underneath a pile of all forms of garbage: plastic bags, empty takeout food containers, two tires, something that was probably made of wood once - until he got close enough to get a better look. Squatting down, Connor moved a few pieces of garbage away from it, and found that the shiny thing was… A sneaker. Attached to a leg. Connor’s blood ran cold. Had he just found a dead body?





	1. chapter 1

The rope was kept in the trunk of his car for one of those “just in case” days. It wasn’t healthy, but nothing about Connor really was. He’d never learned any normal way to take care of himself, and as the saying went, you couldn’t teach an old dog new tricks. Connor was just an old dog that needed to be put down, and if nobody else would do it, he didn’t mind taking matters into his own hands. 

It was the third day of senior year of high school, and it was the third day this week that Connor had had just one too many insults hurled at him. They slid right off, most of the time - or, Connor pretended like they did - but something about overhearing his sister refer to him as a monster really did him in. It felt like she’d sucker-punched him right in the center of his chest, and Connor had been genuinely winded for a full minute before he managed to so much as move. His feet had carried him out through one of the side doors in the school, out towards the student parking lot, out to his car, and then his car had done the rest. 

Connor was parked at the far end of the state park’s parking lot, trunk popped open, holding the thick rope coiled into the shape of a noose in both hands. He couldn’t bring himself to tear his eyes away from it, even when he blinked and felt hot tears roll down his cheek before falling onto the rope. Blinking hard, Connor wiped at his eyes with the back of his sleeve and slammed his trunk shut, stuffing the rope into the big front pocket of his hoodie so that nobody would bother to stop him. 

The usual paths through the park were closer to the entrance, but Connor didn’t want to take any of those: he didn’t want to risk being found. Instead, he turned towards the expanse of trees towering above him, and disappeared into them. 

It was cooler here, kept out of reach of the sun by wide-arching branches and thick leaves that had yet to fall. Maybe he’d get lucky, and nobody would find his body until winter started. He hadn’t left a note for anyone to try and use against him - he didn’t have anything to say, anyway. 

Connor picked his way over branches and various forest debris, only tripping himself up a couple times on a hidden root that was growing out of the ground, seeking sunlight in the way only plants knew how. 

It took about ten minutes until the clearing Connor was looking for opened up in front of him, and he paused at the edge of it, just letting out a soft sigh of relief. It wasn’t the prettiest - this clearing had once been used as a dumping ground, one of the lots that the city dumped waste into, before some environmentalist nuts got them to stop - but it felt welcoming. It felt like this was where Connor belonged: just another thing to dump and leave behind. 

Nature had already started to take back what was originally its own, tall grass and shrubbery growing over top of the piles of garbage. Various citizens of the area had used it as a personal dumping ground too, but that practice hadn’t been done in a while, as far as Connor knew. At least, he hoped it hadn’t been done in a while. He _really_ didn’t want to be found. 

As Connor picked his way through rubbish towards one of the three trees that stood at the edge of the clearing - one of them would be able to support his weight, if he picked a strong enough branch and tied the noose there - something sort of… Shiny, caught his eye. He paused, glancing around with a slight frown on his face, brows pushing themselves together as he tried to figure out what it was. The clouds shifted and let the sun break loose, and there it was, again. That shiny thing. What the hell was it? 

Connor moved towards it slowly - whatever it was, it was buried underneath a pile of all forms of garbage: plastic bags, empty takeout food containers, two tires, something that was probably made of wood once - until he got close enough to get a better look. Squatting down, Connor moved a few pieces of garbage away from it, and found that the shiny thing was… A sneaker. Attached to a leg. Connor’s blood ran cold. Had he just found a dead body? Was he going to go to jail for this? Connor went to stumble back, but ended up planting his ass firmly in the ground, just staring at the sneakered foot. What the _fuck_ was he supposed to do? Should he uncover it? 

After what was probably only a minute and a half (but felt like hours to Connor) of internal debate, he decided: fuck it. Might as well see who that used to be, right? He could always call in anonymously, or leave a note for the park rangers, or something. Connor got up on his knees and knelt forward, specifically only breathing through his mouth - the smell of the rotting garbage alone was overwhelming, so who knew how bad a rotting body would smell - as he started sorting through the trash, tossing things aside, exposing more and more of the body. 

It took about five minutes to completely unearth it, and… Huh. Connor didn’t recognise this person at all, but they were clearly a boy, probably around his own age. It didn’t look like he had any damage done to him at all, either, which was odd, because he had been literally buried under a bunch of rotting trash. Connor leaned forward a bit more, moving to brush away the honey-blond hair from his forehead, and his eyes flew open. 

“Jesus!” Connor exclaimed, jumping back and nearly falling flat on his back this time. When the person didn’t move, Connor inched closer again, noticing that the eyes were… Different, from normal human eyes. They were sort of glowing, almost as if emanating an internal light, and they were the most beautifully unearthly blue that Connor had ever seen. “Uh.. Hello?” he asked, frowning a bit and waving his hand in front of the person’s - thing’s - face. When it didn’t blink or move at all, Connor’s frown only got deeper. 

Glancing down, he noticed that the thing’s chest was glowing, too, right in the center - the same blue as the eyes, in fact. Connor hesitantly shifted forward, feeling a bit odd about doing this, but he lifted up the thing’s blue-and-white striped polo - it was filthy, the clothes were disgusting but the thing _itself_ seemed fine - and spotting a little round stamp in the center of its chest, where the light was coming from. “Oh,” Connor said after a beat, his voice quiet. This was an android. A perfectly good, potentially _working_ android that had been tossed out like it was trash. Connor put the thing’s shirt back down and then sat back again, unsure what to do. He’d never seen an android this close, before - they were usually placed into service industry positions, like cashiers, home health aides, that sort of thing, so that people didn’t have to do those positions anymore, to optimise the economy or some bullshit - and it was a little unnerving, how human-like they were. Or, how human-like this one was. It had fucking _freckles_ , variegated hair so it wasn’t all one flat color, a life-like /chest/… 

Connor hated that he immediately wondered if the human-like qualities extended underneath its waist. He had to get his mind straight - this was a fucking _android_. What was it doing all the way out here, dumped in the woods? 

Pulling his phone out, Connor checked the time - great. If he left now, he’d make it home before anyone else did, and he’d be able to hide this thing, or at least take a good look at it and see what he could do to help it, or fix it. Its eyes were still open, unnervingly so, and Connor reached up to try and close them - and the android’s eyes closed, the light fading from its chest as well, as if it was powering off. Okay, fixed that. Now… What should he _do_ with it? How should he get it out of here without it looking like he was carrying a dead body? 

Momentarily, Connor glanced over at the three trees standing against the far end of the clearing. Subconsciously, he touched the coiled rope that sat in his front hoodie pocket, and let out a soft breath, shaking his head. Another day. He could wait another day. 

Connor managed to gather the android up into his arms, carrying it bridal-style and trying not to grimace at the stench and sensation of the old, dirty clothes it was wearing. He carefully picked his way back through the trees and emerged, about ten minutes later, carrying the android to his car. It was a bit of a task to decide where to put it - the front seat would be too weird, but putting it in the trunk just seemed cruel - and eventually, Connor settled for the backseat, going so far as to carefully buckle it in. The noose got tossed back in the trunk, underneath a bunch of shit that nobody would go poking through, and Connor got back in the car, starting the drive home. 

The entire drive home, Connor couldn’t stop himself from peeking back in the rearview mirror to see if the android was doing okay, if it had fallen over, if it was even still there - because, God, what a surreal fucking afternoon. He had even almost asked it if he could smoke, and then realised that, yeah, of course he could, because androids didn’t need to breathe, even if they _did_ mind if he smoked. 

Connor flicked his cigarette out the window moments before turning into his driveway, and parked the car where he always left it before contemplating the android in the backseat. How was he going to bring this inside without any of the neighbors noticing and making mention to his mom? 

There wasn’t really a good way, so Connor just sort of… Resigned himself to his new fate of carting around a non-working android as he brought it into his house, up the stairs, and to his room. Locking the door behind him (thanking whatever God was out there that his parents hadn’t gotten around to removing the lock like they said they were going to), Connor set the android down on the floor, tossed his bag on his bed, and just sort of… Looked at it. 

The dirty clothes were really going to fuck up the floor. Those had to go, first. 

Connor got the android’s shirt off fairly easily, noticing that it even had some freckles along the rest of its skin - not just the little constellational dots on its face. Whoever had built this thing put actual care and _love_ into it, which made its appearance in the middle of a fucking dumping ground all the more unclear. 

Pants came next, and Connor felt… Bad, about doing this, as if he should be asking permission or consent or something before just taking off this android’s clothes. Shimmying the pants down, Connor was both amused and horrified that first of all, it wasn’t wearing underwear, and that second of all, _it probably needed underwear_. Hastily, Connor averted his eyes and scrambled up, getting a pair of his own fresh underwear and sliding them hurriedly onto the android’s body. Only then did Connor feel safe to look, letting out a sigh of relief as he discovered that, yes, they did cover everything up nicely. Jesus Christ, who built a robot and made the decision to give it a dick? What purpose did that even serve? 

Abruptly, Connor decided he might not want to know the answer to that question, and returned to examining the android’s body. 

It wasn’t damaged anywhere, which again, only raised more questions than answers. It actually seemed to be in perfect working condition, but if that was the case, then why wasn’t it turning on? Connor frowned, shifting a bit and gently taking the android’s head in his hands, running his fingers through the oddly soft, oddly human-like hair, and his fingers grazed a slight dent. Connor paused, and ran his fingers over it again to find it, and then parted the hair to reveal a small, easy-to-miss slot, which looked like it was supposed to have something in it. A memory chip, maybe? Connor could vaguely remember hearing about those in one of his science and technology classes. But why was the android’s memory chip removed? Why had it been dumped out in the woods? 

Letting out a deep sigh, Connor sat back, frown still present on his face. He had a lot of work to do, and it seemed that would start with ordering a new memory chip, if he could get his parents to agree to it. 

A car door slammed outside and Connor glanced towards the window out of habit, even though he couldn’t see through the thick blackout curtains he had hung over them. Now or never, Connor thought to himself, and carefully straightened up, adjusting the android as he did so, laying it down gently in his bed before heading out of his bedroom. 


	2. chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After she seemed to be done inspecting it, Zoe turned to Connor, a slightly accusing tone to her voice as she said, “And you just… found this. In the woods.” 
> 
> “No, I stole it.” At the look on his sister’s face, though, Connor hastily corrected his lie with, “Yeah, I actually did find it, okay? I don’t steal shit - okay, I don’t steal shit /all/ the time. Stop looking at me like that.”

“What do you _mean_ , he left?” could be heard coming from Connor’s mom as she walked in the door, her phone cradled between her ear and shoulder while her hands juggled four plastic grocery bags, a frown marring her face. Connor hesitated at the top of the stairs, which was a peak vantage point and also an excellent hiding spot. “No, I haven’t -- “ Cynthia fell quiet for a moment, and Connor watched the way his mom pursed her lips, which meant that whoever was on the other end of the line had said something she disagreed with. “I’ll speak to him,” she finally said, clearly cutting off whoever was on the phone, and then she promptly hung up, setting her phone down on the kitchen island with a loud sigh. “Connor!” Cynthia called, and Connor shrunk slightly. God, he didn’t want to talk to her right now. She turned towards the staircase and fixed her gaze on the exact spot where Connor was hiding, hands on her hips. “I know you’re up there!” 

Connor sighed, straightening up. Time to face the music. He smoothed out his facial expression, shoving his hands in the front pocket of his hoodie, and meandered downstairs as if his mom wasn’t waiting for him with the intent to shout at him. “Yeah?” he asked, pausing at the base of the stairs and fixing her with a pointedly bored look, one brow raised slightly. 

“Why did I get a call from the assistant principal on my way home from the store that you’d left school early?” she asked, a deep frown on her lips, gaze fixed on her son. 

“Because I left school early,” Connor repeated, as if the answer were obvious. 

For a moment, Connor was pretty sure his mom was going to yell at him, despite all the “namaste” bullshit she was going through right now - her latest phase was to appropriate various aspects of eastern religions and cultures to suit her needs, which involved doing yoga, buying a lot of weird “healing crystals”, and drinking tea - but Cynthia took a deep breath in, closed her eyes, and seemed to just be… Waiting. After about ten incredibly long seconds, she opened her eyes. “Connor, I know you don’t like school, but it’s _only_ the third day. Can you _please_ just try to stay in school for the entire day, honey? I really don’t like getting calls from that Mrs McCaffrey,” she said, and it was evident by the slight strain in Cynthia’s voice that she was trying not to lose her temper. Connor had to give her credit for that, at least. 

“I found something in the woods today,” Connor replied after a moment, deciding to just bypass the bullshit promises he would make and then immediately break. “An android. It probably works, it just doesn’t have a memory card.” 

Cynthia paused for a moment, her expression turning shocked and then slightly disbelieving. “Is that what you did when you skipped school today? Poked around in the woods?” 

_No, I went there to go hang myself and make your life easier._ “Yeah. Wanna see it?” Normally, Connor didn’t let anyone into his room unless they forced their way in - that was usually his dad, sometimes Zoe, but never his mom. She seemed to at least _try_ and respect his boundaries, whereas it felt like no one else gave a shit. 

Cynthia’s eyes lit up at the prospect, clearly thinking along the same lines as Connor was. “Sure, sweetie, let me just put the groceries away - I’ll be right there,” she promised, and Connor couldn’t help but return his mom’s wide, excited smile with a small one of his own. He nodded and turned around, taking the stairs two at a time and going back to his bedroom, leaving the door mostly closed, an inch-wide crack showing that it wasn’t _fully_ shut. 

The android was where Connor had left it - lifeless and still so lifelike - leaning against the pillows and headboard of Connor’s bed, wearing his clothes. Well - it needed a shirt. Connor went to his dresser and dug out an old shirt he never wore anywhere - it was short-sleeved, so he didn’t have a use for it - and knelt on the bed, carefully hefting the android’s head through the head hole, and then managing to finagle its arms through the sleeves, tugging the shirt down so it fully covered everything. “There,” he murmured, gently setting the android back against the bed, giving it another once-over. It really looked _just_ like a person… Why had someone built one that was so life-like? Most androids were, of course, in service industry jobs that people didn’t seem to want or enjoy - they were semi-realistic, sure, but more along the lines of uncanny valley realism, rather than an actual attempt at anything human, like this android seemed to be. 

Downstairs, there was the sound of the front door closing again, and Connor frowned, standing up and hesitating by his almost-closed bedroom door. From here, Connor could hear the familiar voices of his mom and sister. 

“Zoe, how was band practice?” Cynthia asked, turning around to smile at her daughter, who was just getting dropped off by one of her band friends. 

Zoe shrugged, toeing her sneakers off by the door. “It was fine? It’s just the first one, so all we did was get the music and mess around a bit,” she replied. Heading into the kitchen, Zoe grabbed an apple from the bowl of fruit on the counter and rinsed it off before taking a big bite of it. “Did he make it home?” she asked. 

Cynthia paused with the refrigerator door open, letting out a soft sigh as she shut it quietly. Her eyes flickered to the staircase, but it seemed that Connor wasn’t anywhere on the landing, trying to listen in. “Why didn’t you tell me he left early, Zoe?” she asked quietly, turning to face her daughter with a slight pinch between her brows. “That rude assistant principal called me to tell me about it.” 

“Mom, it’s not my job to know where he is. I just noticed because he wasn’t in gym,” Zoe replied, frowning a bit more deeply at her mom. “So, he’s here?” She took a particularly loud bite out of the apple, teeth scraping against the core. 

“Yes, he’s upstairs… He said he went to the woods and found an.. An android, I think?” Cynthia shrugged, letting out a sigh and brushing a loose strand of hair back from her face. She forced a slight smile at Zoe and gestured at the staircase. “Maybe you could go see it, honey? That might give you guys something to talk about,” Cynthia suggested, turning to finish putting away the rest of the groceries. 

Zoe let out a long, loud sigh, and Connor moved back from his door. Great - something for them to “talk” about usually meant something they’d end up fighting about. It wasn’t like Connor was _trying_ to be a dick to his sister - she just said shit that pissed him off, or he did that to her - but their history was too much for her to just… _Talk_ to him. And they both knew that, and neither of them bothered trying to talk to their parents about it. it seemed pointless. 

Just as Connor was sitting back down on his bed, moving the android a bit so he had more room to spread out, Zoe was barging into his room without bothering to knock. She stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips, looking remarkably like their mother for a second. “So, where’s this -- oh my God, what the hell _is_ that?” Zoe asked incredulously, eyes widening as she took in the sight of the android on her brother’s bed. 

“It’s an android, idiot,” Connor replied dully, not bothering to look up from his phone as Zoe got closer. “It was in the state park underneath some garbage. I thought it was a dead body.” 

“I’d rather you brought home a dead body,” Zoe dead-panned, but then she fell quiet. She was inching closer, clearly wanting to look, but Connor could just _feel_ the way her gaze moved furtively between the android and him. 

Wordlessly, Connor shifted to sit at the foot of his bed, giving Zoe a chance to look it over. He glanced up to watch as she hesitantly sat down on his bed. Zoe reached out, her fingertips, nails painted dark blue - so _that’s_ where his new nail polish went - brushing tentatively over the android’s cheek. “It feels like _skin,_ oh my God,” she muttered, her brows furrowing. Zoe withdrew her hand and pulled her hair out of her face, pinning it back with a barrette before leaning back in, clearly curious about the android that her brother had found. After she seemed to be done inspecting it, Zoe turned to Connor, a slightly accusing tone to her voice as she said, “And you just… found this. In the woods.” 

“No, I stole it.” At the look on his sister’s face, though, Connor hastily corrected his lie with, “Yeah, I actually did find it, okay? I don’t steal shit - okay, I don’t steal shit _all_ the time. Stop looking at me like that.” Connor frowned, glancing down and away from Zoe’s expression, which was a mix of something between distrustful and accusatory. 

Zoe let out a soft sigh, shaking her head a bit, and Connor glanced back up to catch his sister giving him a weird look that he couldn’t name. “Does it even work?” she eventually asked, sliding up and off of Connor’s bed, standing right next to it with her arms crossed over her chest. 

“Probably? But it’s missing its memory chip or whatever, and it probably has some kinda battery pack inside. I haven’t really looked through it yet,” Connor explained, which was true. He was more focused on getting the thing a new memory card to see if he even needed to try and tinker with batteries or tools, first. The less work he had to do, the better. 

Zoe seemed to consider this, and then nodded. “Okay. I’ll get mom and dad to buy you one _if_ \-- “ Zoe paused to fix Connor with a serious expression, her eyes stern and mouth set in a thin line, lips pressed together as she seemed to think over what to say. “ -- _If_ you use your fake ID and buy me and my band friends some beer for our party. It’s at the end of the month, after our competition, and we want twisted tea.” 

Of course there was a catch. Why wouldn’t there be? “Fine, whatever. I don’t want mom or dad questioning me about the android though, okay? So get it done without them bothering me and you can have whatever shitty drinks you want,” Connor agreed, rolling his eyes at his sister. Of course she wanted something from him. Whatever, at least he would get what he needed out of this. 

“Deal.” Zoe gave the android one last glance and then nodded to herself before turning and leaving Connor’s bedroom, shutting the door behind her. 

\- - -

It took a whole week for Connor to get the memory card in the mail, and by the time it finally arrived, he was practically sick of looking at the damn android in his bedroom. There wasn’t anywhere he could really put it without feeling either weird or just plain guilty about it, so it got moved around his bedroom a lot. When Connor was at school, he left the android lying down or propped up in his bed, because that seemed the least weird. But when he got home from school, and when he was sleeping or otherwise in his bed, he had to put it somewhere else. The most logical place was to sit it in the desk chair that he used as a catch-all for mail, clothes, random papers, books, that kind of shit. So now all that shit was constantly on his floor, and Connor would step all over it every morning, which wasn’t exactly a great way to start off a day he didn’t even want to be alive for in the first place. 

Suffice to say, the memory card was damn well overdue. 

“Connor, your package came today!” Cynthia called over the sound of the blender she was misusing in the kitchen, making some disgusting-looking, lumpy green smoothie. “I left it on your bed!” 

Despite himself, Connor was too excited to be mad about the fact that his mom had been in his room without asking, and had probably touched his android. He barely managed to get his boots off his feet before he was racing up the stairs and to his bedroom, shutting the door behind him with such vigor that it seemed to shake on its hinges. Connor locked it, tossing his bag on the floor, and practically leapt onto his bed, far too ready to rip into the package. 

With a short knife he kept hidden in the drawer of his bedside table, Connor expertly sliced open the packet, shaking out the small, plastic-wrapped memory card inside, and then set everything else down on top of his already-messy table. Carefully, Connor unwrapped the small, silvery card and turned it over in his fingers, inspecting it curiously. It was just about an inch long and had one side that seemed to be open, and one side that was smooth, with a fingerprint-like indent right in the middle of it - probably to make pushing it in and out easier. 

Connor glanced over at the android and felt his stomach almost flutter with nerves. Was he actually ready to do this? What if the android didn’t even work? What if it did work, but it was broken some other way? What if it was a terrible android and that was why it had been abandoned in the woods for so long? 

“Jesus, just do it,” Connor muttered to himself. He shifted on the bed so he was straddling the android’s lap, sitting lightly against its cool legs. Carefully, he gripped its head by the sides and tilted it down, fingers combing through the android’s short, soft blond hair, parting it until he finally found the little slot for its memory card. Connor lined up the edge of the memory card with the slot and held his breath as he pressed it in. The android seemed to accept it, because there was a sudden, soft vibrating coming from its body. Shifting slightly, Connor brought the android’s head up, holding its face between both of his hands, watching curiously as various things lit up underneath its surface until, finally -- 

The android opened its eyes. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello again! <3 thank you for reading this new chapter!! please lmk what you think of it and lmk if there's anything i can do to be better. i love all feedback & i try to reply to all comments as soon as i see them!!
> 
> social media:   
>  [tumblr](http://harperkyle.tumblr.com)   
>  [twitter](http://www.twitter.com/_harpurr)   
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	3. chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Immediately, the light turned white, and Connor had to resist the urge to pull his hand back. It ran up and down his hand, seeming to scan it, A small beep sounded when it was done, and Connor withdrew his hand, letting the android’s shirt fall back down. “Welcome, new user,” it said, a smile on its face now. Jesus, it even had little wrinkles by its eyes when it smiled. “Please input your name.”

Once again, those bright, glowing blue eyes were open, but this time they were… Brighter. They seemed to scan the room, and then they scanned Connor, who was just sitting on this android’s lap. “Holy shit,” he exhaled, otherwise speechless as he let his hands fall from its face, ending up on his own thighs. 

“Please input access code,” the android said abruptly, and although there was a slightly… rusty quality to its voice, it had an otherwise pleasant, male human voice. 

Connor blinked. “What?” he asked, because he had no fucking clue what the android meant. 

“Please input access code,” it repeated, and a glowing light seemed to strengthen and pulsate from its chest - the same bright blue as the eyes, the same gorgeous colour that was nothing at all like what was naturally found on earth. 

“Uh.” Connor hesitated, then lifted up the android’s shirt a bit, exposing its chest. The light in the center was glowing as brightly as a flashlight would, and Connor squinted. It seemed to be flashing between a normal circle and a shape like a hand. Maybe he was supposed to put his hand there? Tentatively, Connor reached out and placed his hand on the android’s chest, palm flat against its cool, smooth surface. 

Immediately, the light turned white, and Connor had to resist the urge to pull his hand back. It ran up and down his hand, seeming to scan it, A small beep sounded when it was done, and Connor withdrew his hand, letting the android’s shirt fall back down. “Welcome, new user,” it said, a smile on its face now. Jesus, it even had little wrinkles by its eyes when it smiled. “Please input your name.” 

“Connor? My name’s Connor,” he said quickly, unsure if there was a time limit in sharing his name. 

“Welcome, Connor. What would you like to call me?” 

Frantically, Connor’s eyes scanned his room for anything nearby. He didn’t know he’d have to _name_ this thing - hell, he’d been calling it an _it_ this whole time. His eyes landed on a bottle of Evian water by his bed, and Connor blurted out, “Evian -- Wait, no, Evan. Evan. Your name’s Evan.” 

The android seemed to process that, and then it nodded. “Thank you, Connor. Please wait one moment while I retrieve personality data from my cached memory.” 

Connor watched in sheer fascination as the android closed its eyes and seemed to be glowing a faint - or vibrant, in the case of its eyes - blue from various points on its body. A few soft whirring sounds started to make themselves present, almost like when a computer was first booting up - but a modern computer, more like the Macbook that Connor had been given a couple years ago. “Evan - “ he started, wondering how long the process was going to take, and the android’s eyes opened again, no longer as bright as they had seemed behind its eyelids. 

“Hi, Connor!” it exclaimed, bright and cheery, its voice suddenly more… Human-like, than before. Maybe that was a feature that had been programmed into it by the original creator or owner. “What do you need from me today?” 

“Uh.” Connor paused, frowning a bit, trying to assess what the android was even referencing, but decided he wasn’t going to figure it out like this. “Can I ask, like, what you were made to do? Like, was that programmed into you?” 

Evan nodded, still seeming as happy as ever, although there were tiny movements in its facial expression that didn’t leave it feeling creepy, like the cashier or store aide androids that Connor had come across. “Sure! I was built to be a personal home assistant, but a little more like you than an android is usually built.” Evan paused then, and Connor swore he saw something like a frown flicker across its face before its expression changed back. “Is there anything you need assistance with?” it asked again, seeming to refocus its gaze on Connor. 

There wasn’t anything Connor could think of that would be suitable for an android to do, and while he knew it wouldn’t be insulted by anything he asked, asking what was essentially a supercomputer to do his high school homework felt… Degrading to the android, somehow? “Not really, sorry,” Connor apologised with a shrug. 

A knock came from his door and Connor practically jumped off the android’s lap just seconds before Zoe opened the door with a suspicious expression on her face. “I heard you talking to someone, and you -- “ she started, but was promptly cut off by the sight of the now-functional android sitting on her brother’s bed, waving cheerfully at her. “Oh my God.” 

“Hello! My name is Evan, what should I call you?” the android asked brightly, smiling at Zoe. Connor knew it was the same smile that it had given him, but a stray jealous thought told Connor that it was somehow a brighter smile that was being aimed at Zoe. Stupid technology. 

“My name? Um, my name’s Zoe... “ she replied with a slight furrow to her brow. Zoe then turned to Connor. “You named it? You can’t name androids!” 

“It asked for a name!” Connor replied, already defensive. Beside him, he could hear the android - Evan - making little whirring sounds again, but Connor didn’t pay it any mind right now. “You helped me get it working, why are you surprised that I actually did it?” 

Zoe rolled her eyes, arms crossed over her chest. “I didn’t think you were pathetic enough to literally build yourself a _friend_ , Connor,” she retorted, snappy and sharp. 

Connor was on his feet within a second, already lunging towards Zoe - with what intent, he didn’t know - and then he felt something solid and cool wrap around his wrist, not tugging, but preventing Connor from going any closer. He glanced back, confusion and anger mingling in his expression, and found Evan there, the android’s hand curled around his wrist, an expression almost like anxiety, or maybe pleading, on its face. “Let me go!” Connor snapped, trying to tug his arm out of the android’s grip, and then pry at its fingers with the ones from his free hand. 

“Please - don’t fight? I don’t like that,” Evan said, even his voice sounding like it was pitched a bit higher, as if he was actually nervous. 

“What the _fuck_ ,” Connor said, now just confused, the anger dissipating as he focused his attention on Evan now, not having noticed that Zoe had run back to her room until the sharp sound of her door slamming shut and then locking behind her caught his attention. 

Evan tugged gently on Connor’s wrist, and Connor turned back to focus on him again, frowning. “What do you mean, you don’t _like_ it? You’re a robot, you can’t _like_ things,” he pointed out, rather sullenly following the android’s gentle, wordless guidance to sit back on his bed. Connor stayed seated as Evan got up and shut the door to Connor’s room, although he did cross his arms over his chest and turn, childishly, away from the android. 

“I assessed the situation, and I think your spike in anger and sadness was extremely rapid, Connor, and Zoe’s spike of fear rose in a similar state,” Evan explained, although for Connor, that didn’t explain much. He already knew that. “The situation seemed unsafe and potentially physically harmful to either Zoe or both of you. It’s my job to assist, so I intervened.” 

Connor frowned, his arms curled around himself so tightly it made the muscles on the sides of his ribs hurt. “All I’m really hearing is that you think I have anger issues and that you like my sister better than me. What the fuck else is new?” Connor muttered, his words more hurt than angry, this time. 

The android stayed quiet, and then Connor felt a cool, almost gentle weight on his shoulder. “I do not think any of that, Connor. It seems like you are interpreting things very differently from how they are in reality. I apologise for upsetting you. I was just trying to help. It’s built in my programming,” the android said quietly, and if Connor closed his eyes, he could pretend that the android was some guy, someone from school or a party or _anywhere_ that gave a shit about him and how he felt. 

Connor blew out a soft sigh. “Whatever. It’s not your fault I’m a fucking disaster.” He shrugged the android’s hand off of his shoulder and laid down, shutting his eyes. The bed shifted slightly, a weight lifted off of it, and Connor heard Evan sit down in his desk chair, which had been cleared off but was still messy. “Can you like… Clean?” he asked, opening an eye and turning his head to look over at the android. 

“Yes, I can. Would you like me to clean and organise your living space, Connor?” Evan asked, once again smiling at him. Maybe Zoe was right and he did basically just build a fake friend. At least an android wasn’t going to call him names or point out shit that Connor didn’t want to acknowledge about himself. Connor nodded, and Evan continued with, “I’ll make piles of things for you to go through. You should rest after such a spike in emotion. I’ll wake you when I’m all done.” 

It only took about half an hour before Connor was being gently roused from his half-asleep state, groggy as he propped himself up on his elbow and then his forearm. “Thanks,” Connor mumbled, glancing around his bedroom, noticing the piles. He glanced back at the android and noticed that Evan was about to open his mouth, and Connor shook his head. “Gonna go to bed. More tomorrow. It’ll be Saturday.” Connor yawned and rolled over, curling up on his side facing away from Evan. 

“Goodnight, Connor,” Evan said quietly, turning the lights in the room off, leaving himself and his softly glowing eyes as the only source of light in the other’s bedroom while Connor drifted into a dreamless sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello friends!! i'm sorry this chapter is a) short, and b) took so long for me to publish! real life sort of hit me all at once with a bunch of crap, and now there's a bunch of good stuff happening! both things draw me away from the internet, so it took me a hot minute to get this out. i hope you like it! <3  
> come say hi on [tumblr!](http://harperkyle.tumblr.com)  
> [twitter](http://www.twitter.com/_harpurr)  
> [instagram](http://instagram.com/harpurr)

**Author's Note:**

> wow hi thanks for making it to the end!! <3 this is the first fic i've written in a hot minute - probably in like, four years or so. my old account was [u/whenyouheldtheknife](http://www.archiveofourown.org/users/whenyouheldtheknife) if you wanna read my old stuff.
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> if you wanna come say hi, here's my social media stuff:  
> [tumblr](http://www.harperkyle.tumblr.com)  
> [twitter](http://www.twitter.com/_harpurr)  
> [instagram](http://www.instagram/come/harpurr)
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> pls lmk what you think of the fic - i'm working on chapter two rn, so hopefully that'll be up soon! and thanks for reading!! <33


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